Read the transcript to the Thursday show

ED SCHULTZ, HOST: Good evening, Americans. And welcome to THE ED SHOW tonight from New York.

President Obama is pushing the jobs plan in Michigan. And I`ll help him out.

A presidential candidate is using my name to prop up his failing campaign? I`ll have to set him straight.

And Republicans are waging a war on the Postal Service like nothing you`ve ever seen before.

This is THE ED SHOW -- let`s get to work!

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to remind Americans what we`re about and not be ashamed of it. I`m not ashamed of it. I say it in front of NBC every day.

SCHULTZ (voice-over): Rick Santorum needs a refresher course on what makes this country great. I went out and spoke to some hardworking Americans today. They`re going to set them straight.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The right to bargain, it`s an American right. No one should lose it.

SCHULTZ: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is here with reaction.

The pink slip Rick Scott movement is growing in Florida. Today, a report says the governor is basically robbing the state for its health care insurance.

And Rick Perry is jumping into the Republican presidential race. "Daily Show" co-creator Lizz Winstead is jumping on Rick Perry.

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: This is what I`m supposed to be doing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHULTZ: Good evening, everybody. Thanks for joining us tonight.

The number one issue on the minds of Americans is jobs. And President Obama hit the road and went to Michigan today to talk about just that. The president went on the offense against the obstructionists who are trying to sink our economy and make him a one-term president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are things we can do right now that will put more money in your pockets, will help businesses sell more products around the world, will put people to work in Michigan and across the country. And to get these things done, we do need Congress. They are common sense ideas that have been support in the past by Democrats and the Republicans, things that are supported by Carl Levin.

The only thing keeping us back is our politics. The only thing preventing the bills from being passed is the refusal of some folks in Congress to put country ahead of party. There are some in Congress right now who would rather see their opponents lose than see America win.

And that has to stop. It`s got to stop. We`re supposed to all be on the same team, especially when we`re going through tough times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: So the president says there are things we can do now. And we need Congress. If you`re a fair-minded American watching tonight, you ask yourself a question: what has this Congress done to help the president move our jobs economy forward?

Republicans -- they have never wanted to be on the same team with President Obama. Senator Jim DeMint openly admitted that he wanted to break the president and make health care reform his Waterloo. That was July 9th, 2009.

The South Carolina senator, well, he`s back at it. He spit more of that garbage out against today.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

SEN. JIM DEMINT (R), SOUTH CAROLINA: We saw within a few days that the president was going to be heavy-handed. He was going to implement his agenda and pay back his political allies. And it went on from there, from Obamacare and then to Dodd-Frank. It has been the most anti-business, and I consider anti-American administration in my lifetime of things that are just so anathema to the principles of freedom. And everything he has come up with has centralized more power in Washington creates more socialist-style collectivist policies.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: And we should point out that that was on a Christian radio station.

A sitting United States senator just called the president of the United States anti-American. He also said that President Obama was heavy-handed. What`s more heavy-handed than a record number of filibusters?

DeMint is in lockstep with every other right wing attack artist who are running for president this time around today.

Look at what Rick Santorum said in Iowa today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SANTORUM: We have to remind Americans what we`re about that and not be ashamed of it. I`m not ashamed of it.

And I say in front of NBC every day and if you can say it in front of MSNBC every day. And Rachel Maddow and to Ed Schultz and all these folks up who are getting tapes and saying, oh, this guy`s nuts! You know? This guy understands what made this country great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: What made this country great? Well, you know what, former Senator Santorum. I try to do my part. My company`s met payroll every two weeks and we haven`t missed one in four years and we haven`t fired anybody and we haven`t reduced anybody`s wages. OK. I`m patting myself on the back. It can be done.

Even in the arena of negativity that you throw out there, Senator Santorum. But we should be ashamed because we really don`t know what this economy is all about. What I know about is that this president has put so much opportunity on the table for small business. And you guys have stood on the sideline and you`ve heckled from the crowd.

And now, you`re trying to say that, hey, you`re not ashamed? Senator Santorum, I`ll give you the respect of calling you senator, even though you got booted out of Pennsylvania. You should be ashamed. You should be really ashamed, because he stands, by friends, with the bankers in Wall Street.

I`m not ashamed to stand with the people who are under attack by the conservatives in this country, like Santorum, and his policies.

So, when I saw that piece of tape come into the shop today, I thought, well, you know, maybe I better go down the street because I saw these folks on the street this morning, when I got back to New York from Orlando, after talking to some union workers. I came back and I said, you know, I think I`m going to take a camera and go down the street and stand with these great Americans and ask them, if they deserve to have their voice heard and if they know what makes America great.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SCHULTZ: So, Rick Santorum says that he`s not ashamed to say what he`s for in America. That he`s not ashamed to talk about what he thinks makes America great. Although, he aligns himself with a political party that thinks it`s great to go after workers and the middle class, to take away their health care and their pensions and to go after people on fixed incomes.

Rick Santorum is part of a party that thinks that it`s good to go after people who want a voice in the workplace, to collectively bargain. He`s not ashamed of that.

I`m not ashamed to stand with the workers and ask them today here on the streets of New York and across America, if they`re ashamed to ask for fair wage in the workplace. Let`s ask them.

Brothers and sisters, good to see you.

CROWD: Good to see you.

SCHULTZ: Are you ashamed to be here and ask for a living wage and health care.

THOMAS JENKINS, VERIZON SERVICE TECHNICIAN: I feel it is necessary that I stand here. They are at the top. And if you look at the salary that these people are making, that`s the shame. I am here with pride, to be able to maintain what we had. Not only to maintain, but to add to what we have because when you look at the rate that things -- that these are escalated around, we are not making enough to live on today.

I can tell you that for sure. When we get through paying for rent, mortgage, subway tokens and all that stuff, we have nothing left.

SCHULTZ: Rick Santorum, you know what`s great about America? This is what`s great about America, Rick Santorum, is people speaking up. This is what`s great about America -- people that have the courage to stand up and say, value my career. Value my family.

How important is it to be here? How important is it? Are you ashamed to stand up and talk for American workers?

RICK CEBULSKI, VERIZON SERVICE TECHNICIAN: Not at all. Not at all. We have to take a stand. Now is the time to take a stand for everybody, for working people. Not just here, b but for all working people.

Right now, we can`t back down. Give us a fair wage, fair benefits, fair health packages. We want to maintain more of what we have. Give us a little bit --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And to add more add to what we have.

SCHULTZ: And, gentlemen, is it important to be able to speak your peace in the workplace in America? Is that something great for America? Is that something that you`re proud of?

Do you think that`s what makes America great? What makes America great? What are you not ashamed of?

VICKY SUSTMANN, VERIZON OFICE TECHNICIAN: I`m not ashamed to be here. I`m not ashamed to be a blue-collar worker. And I`m not ashamed to be middle class. I`m proud of it.

SCHULTZ: Do you think there`s an attack on the middle class in this country?

SUSTMANN: There`s definitely an attack on the middle class in this country. We pay the taxes. We keep all these programs going. Nobody realizes that.

SCHULTZ: And what do you think about this party in Washington, this political bickering and this focus with some of these radical governors who are putting out legislation to attack collective bargaining?

SUSTMANN: It`s ridiculous. It`s an insult.

SCHULTZ: Does it hurt America?

SUSTMANN: Of course, it hurts America. The right to bargain is an American right. No one should lose it.

SCHULTZ: So, what we learn here on the streets of New York, and I`m four blocks away from my office, whether I`m in Minnesota or Wisconsin, in the middle of the country, or on the streets in New York, it`s amazing how I find, Rick Santorum, Americans who are not ashamed -- Americans who might love the country just as much as you do, and are willing to stand up on the street corner against those who are profiteering on the backs of the hard workers.

Yet, your party wants to take away collective bargaining. Your party. You are the man who stands in caucus with Jim DeMint and calls Obama a socialist. That`s your program.

The program for these workers is just to keep their voice alive and well in the American work place. That`s what`s great about America.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCHULTZ: Get your cell phones out. I want to know what you think.

Tonight`s question: what do the Republicans care more about -- the country or politics? Text A for country, text B politics to 622639. And you can always go to our blog at Ed.MSNBC.com. I`ll bring you the results later on in the show.

Joining me now is Joan Walsh, editor at large at salon.com. And also, former secretary of labor, Robert Reich. He was a professor of the University of California, Berkeley. He is also author of the book, "Aftershock," which is now available in paperback.

Joan, do you think any Republican understand what makes a country great? What name -- what really makes this country great? And -- or do you think that the Republicans have an exclusive on that?

JASON WALSH, SALON. COM: I think that they are very deluded about what makes this country great, Ed. And, you know, we`ve talked about this before.

We made decisions as a country after World War II, and even during the depression, when things were very dark, that we were going to use government to help people get ahead. That when there was a recession, a depression, we were going to use government to come in, put people back to work. Put demand back in the economy. And create after -- after the post-war period, create the American Dream, with public education, with highways, with mortgage insurance.

There`s a picture that we all got here -- those of us who made it, middle class after middle class, that we did it alone. We devoted resources to building the American dream and to building the middle class.

And some people took it for granted like they didn`t have help. But they had help. And now, they`re dismantling those systems and those terrific programs that created the middle class.

SCHULTZ: I totally agree. And Robert Reich, you know, the Republicans -- and I think we caught Rick Santorum on an ad-lib, off the cuff moment. But I think it speaks volumes of their philosophy and how they view politics, I guess you have to say, us versus them, that they have this exclusive feeling about what they`re proud of, as opposed to liberals, as opposed to Democrats.

And they`re the only ones who can step forward and be proud about America, and know how to create jobs in this country.

And, of course, President Obama wants Congress to pass a road construction bill and trade agreements. The trade agreements are a heavy lift.

But he says we can do things now. So, where is this Congress? He says we need Congress. Your thoughts on that?

ROBERT REICH, FORMER LABOR SECRETARY: Well, look, the House of Representatives, Ed, is clearly just say no. With regard to Republicans, they`ve stopped everything. In the Senate, they`ve stopped everything.

I mean, look, the problem here, and a fundamental problem, is if the middle class America and the working class America, if they don`t have the wages, if they don`t have the jobs, they can`t turn around and buy things and keep the economy going.

We cannot as an economy, as a society, maintain ourselves with a little slice, the top 1 percent, getting 20 percent of total national income -- 40 percent of total national wealth. I mean, we haven`t seen this since the 1920s. And you know something?

When we reached a peak in the 1920s, with regard to the top 1 percent and their portion of the national income and wealth. What happened then? We had a Great Depression because the middle class and the lower middle class couldn`t keep going. They just couldn`t keep spending. They couldn`t keep buying. The government was not able to provide the kind of boost to them and to the economy that was necessary.

We`re seeing history repeated itself right now -- trickle-down economics does not work. Everything the Republicans are saying about we have to got to have tax cuts for the rich. We cannot increase taxes on the rich. We got to have a small government, privatization, deregulation. All of that has hurt American middle class, the working class and the poor.

SCHULTZ: And, tonight, the Republican debate, on another network, what you just said, Mr. Reich, is exactly what they regurgitated for the first hour. That`s all they know, cut taxes, help the corporations. They`ve got nothing on the table for the workers.

And, Joan, I want to ask you. How is the president supposed to navigate and bring people together to move the country forward when he has to deal with the Jim DeMints of the world who is now still hung up on calling the president a socialist and setting up a socialist-type government? When is this going to stop? The president says it needs to stop.

WALSH: The president can`t stop it, Ed. We know that. These people have treated him this way from day one, from January 2009.

I think what has to stop is the president tolerating it and not talking directly about it. You know, I think he`s talking about certain jobs programs. Many things will not pass the House. Maybe nothing will pass the House.

But I think it`s important that he get out there and he bring Democrats together -- if only Democrats, that`s fine with me, if that`s all we can get -- around an agenda to putting people back to work.

You know the black youth unemployment rate is almost 50 percent right now? We`re having a generation that`s cut off. Not just cut off from money, but cut off from the world of work.

There are things we can do.

Now, if he puts out this great agenda and the House votes it down, I`d be very happy to see the American people know this is who voted it down. This is what Democrats stand for. And this is what Republicans voted it down. I don`t see why he doesn`t do more of that.

SCHULTZ: I want both of you to look at what Mitt Romney said today in Iowa. Listen to what he said about corporations. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have to make sure that the promises we make in Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare are promises we can keep. And there are various ways of doing that. One is we can raise taxes on people.

SCHULTZ: I wish Mr. Romney would come on this program and explain the graph I put up quite often about where middle class wages have been over the last 30 years and where profits of the corporation have gone, have gone all the way to the top and hasn`t gone to the working folks.

Mr. Reich, you want to respond to his comment.

REICH: Well, corporations are not people. I mean, the Supreme Court in that absolutely grotesque case, Citizens United against the Federal Election Commission, a Supreme Court dominated by Republican appointees says corporations are people. Well, their First Amendment rights are wiping out the First Amendment rights of average people, who can`t keep up with all the money the corporations are plowing into the political system.

Mitt Romney is a corporate -- well, I won`t say stooge. That`s not fair. That`s not nice so say. But he is certainly, someone who represents Wall Street and big corporations against the interests of average, working people. There`s no question about it, Ed.

SCHULTZ: No doubt.

REICH: You know, the Republicans, and I want to talk about not only Jim DeMint, but Mitch McConnell. Over and over again, they said their number one objective is not to get the economy going. It`s to get Obama -- President Obama out of office. And they`re doing it.

They don`t care if the economy is bad.

SCHULTZ: Yes.

REICH: In fact, they want a bad economy because that helps get Obama out of office in 2012.

SCHULTZ: Joan Walsh and Robert Reich, great to have you with us on THE ED SHOW tonight. Thank you so much for joining us.

WALSH: Thanks, Ed.

SCHULTZ: Remember to answer tonight`s question there at the bottom of the screen. We want to know what you think.

John Boehner took a break from the golf course to hammer President Obama`s speech today. And John McCain is getting an earful in his home state.

And Republicans in Congress are trying to strip union workers of their rights and eliminate their jobs. I`ll tell you how the postal workers are coming under attack in Washington.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Welcome back to THE ED SHOW.

Governor Rick Scott of Florida -- here`s another dandy for you, another Republican who hates big government, unless, of course, it benefits him. You see? He pays just $30 a month for health care coverage for his family. Pretty good deal, huh? In fact, there are 32,000 high level employees in Florida`s state government eligible for that kind of coverage, according to "Mother Jones."

Thirty dollars a month to cover your entire family? But for other state employees in Florida, the same coverage costs $180 a month. And for retired state employees, like a retired firefighter, it costs up to $1,243 a month -- 41-times what Governor Rick Scott pays. Is that fair?

But Rick Scott`s idea of getting real with the common man is to spend a day in someone else`s shoes by working, for example, at a donut shop for a day. Customers handed him pink slips to represent the need for jobs, not donuts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should be ashamed that I have to go out and buy things for my daughter`s classroom. I`m just fine.

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Thanks for coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: This is a guy who laid off thousands of state employees and cut benefits and turned down federal funds for health care from the Affordable Care Act.

Listen, folks, the fight over health care are not over because of people like Rick Scott. They`re standing in the way.

And because of all of the bickering going on in Washington, we haven`t talked much about the 99ers. We haven`t talked much about the unemployed. We haven`t talked much about those millions of Americans who still do not have health care.

We`re trying. We`re trying to do our little bit, here on THE ED SHOW to give an additional way to show that you care about all of this. You can help us with this issue.

THE ED SHOW, the National Association of Free Clinics are joining forces and hosting a health clinic on August 29th in New Orleans, Louisiana. MSNBC viewers have funded seven previous clinics around the country.

And your donations will bring vital health services to uninsured patients in the city of New Orleans. We`ll go to other places, as well. And I ask you to make a donation.

Or learn more about volunteering, I want to go to their Web site, freeclinics.us.

Now, the Republicans love to talk about what`s good in America? You know what`s good in America? What little bit you and I can do. And If we can help another American out, see a doctor, save a life, some of the things that I`ve seen at these free health care clinics are absolutely amazing.

This is about one of the most American things you can do in your own way, is to help someone out, your neighbor. Someone in New Orleans, in this country -- not in Afghanistan, not in Baghdad, not in Iraq, but finally here at home.

I ask you to do your part. I will. I`ll be there broadcasting on the 29th. And my wife and I will donate. Please go their Web site, freeclinics.us.

We`re right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: There`s been a lot of talk in Washington right now that I should call Congress back early. The last thing we need is Congress spending more time arguing in D.C. What I figure is, they need to spend more time out here listening to you. And hearing how fed up you are.

That`s why I`m here. That`s why I`ll be traveling to a lot of communities like this one over the next week.

That`s what Congress should be doing. Go back home. Listen to people`s frustrations with all the gridlock. Listen to how frustrated folks are with the constant bickering, and the unwillingness to compromise, and the desire to score points, even if it`s at the expense of our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: President Obama in Michigan today. And members of Congress are getting an earful back in their home districts. Look at how a Tucson, Arizona, crowd turned on John McCain when he started talking about corporate rates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Corporate rates are 35 percent --

CROWD: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Fed up is the term the president used. McCain and other Republicans don`t care what their constituents are screaming about. They only answer to the people who line their pockets.

That`s why the tan man is spending his summer vacation out on the links. On Tuesday, Boehner shot an 81, at a golf fund-raiser on the exclusive Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio.

I think we ought to do a town hall in Toledo, don`t you?

Boehner took a break from happy hour to go over to the clubhouse to take a cheap shot at the president today. "American families and small businesses are hurting in this economy. And they are still asking, where are the jobs? President Obama likes to talk about being the adult in the room -- but there`s nothing adult about political grandstanding."

So, now, get ahold of this. It`s political grandstanding if the president goes out and asks Congress to work in their home districts. It`s political grandstanding if the president asks the Congress to do something on jobs and he says there are things they can do right now.

Boehner and the Republicans have done nothing to create jobs. But everybody is pressing the president to come up with this plan.

What plan do you want him to come up with? Hell, he`s put more incentives on the table than any president in the last 30 years when it comes to small business. And they fought him every step of the way. Unless John Boehner spends less time working on his handicap and more time doing his job, the economy, we`ll be in the bunker for a long time.

Joining me now is Vermont independent Senator Bernie Sanders is on the line with us tonight.

Senator, good to have you with us. I apologize for our satellite technical problem tonight. But you are in remote areas working with the folks. I appreciate you being with us tonight.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I), VERMONT (via telephone): Good to be with you.

SCHULTZ: Do you think that we will do anything on jobs between now and the end of this year?

SANDERS: Well, we`ve got to do. That is the issue that everybody in America feels most strongly about. People are working part-time when they want to work full-time is over 16 percent. You got young people who graduated high school two or three years ago have never had a job and are worried whether or not they ever will have a job.

So, we have a real crisis in terms of unemployment. And yet, we have enormous needs in this country that have got to be addressed.

So, we need an aggressive jobs program, to put American people back to work. And that means dealing with infrastructure and addressing the fact that our roads, our bridges, our water systems, our tunnels, our public transportation systems are in desperate need of work.

SCHULTZ: And, Senator, do you agree with the president there are things that Congress can do immediately that will enhance the job market, immediately?

SANDERS: Well, of course there are.

SCHULTZ: OK. So -- but the Republicans aren`t going to work with him on this.

SANDERS: No, they`re not. And, you know, frankly, I don`t quite agree with the president`s sentiment that all of us in Congress, the problem was bickering. I don`t think so.

I think the problem was that you have Republicans who said from the very beginning that they want to protect the wealthiest people in this country, millionaires and billionaires from paying another nickel in taxes. Large corporations and in some case, pay nothing in taxes. You know? And some of us change that.

But I think really what we have to do now is make the case to the American people that a nation so divided, when you have 400 people at the top earn more wealth than the bottom half, that`s an unstable situation. If we`re going to create the jobs, rebuild our infrastructure, transform our energy system, change your trade policies, Ed -- and this is a huge issue. I don`t agree with the president on this one.

We cannot continue these disastrous trade policies by which companies are shutting down in America and moving to China; 50,000 factories have been lost in the last 10 years. This trade policy is not working. These corporations are going to have to start investing in a country called the United States of America, rather than China and every other country around the world.

SCHULTZ: Senator Bernie Sanders, thanks for joining us tonight. I appreciate it so much. Independent from Vermont.

Coming up, Mitt Romney says President Obama is in over his head. But Sean Hannity has a different view about the president`s policies. That`s landing him in the Zone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: Now, tell me if this doesn`t sound familiar. It`s not just the Republicans on this one. Congress passes legislation that causes major financial problems for a government agency. OK? Then they use that manufactured crisis to strip workers of their rights.

Now, it`s not Scott Walker in Wisconsin we`re talking about. And it`s not John Kasich in Ohio we`re talking about on this issue. It`s the Republicans and some of the Democrats in the House of Representatives. And they are doing a job on the Postal Workers of America.

Do you know the details of this story? You`re going to want to know him.

And Liz Winstead and Bill Press, they are in, too, to talk all about it. you`re watching THE ED SHOW on MSNBC.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: How much do you know about the United States Postal Service? You hear a lot of negative comments about their finances, don`t you? Well, earlier today, I spoke to the postal workers in Orlando, Florida. These are men and women who are in the same boat as public employees in states like Wisconsin and Verizon workers throughout the country who are on strike right now.

They`re fighting for their jobs, their rights and their futures. The United States Postal Service announcing today that it wants to reduce its work force by 20 percent. But layoffs of that nature are prohibited by union contracts.

That`s where the Republicans step right on in. GOP Congressman Darryl Issa, who has got a lot of power, from California, is drawing from a familiar playbook. He introduced a Tea Party friendly bill that would allow an oversight committee to cut Postal Worker wages, slash benefits and end protections against layoffs.

But the financial problems facing the Postal Service -- and I want you to hear this -- were created largely not by you and me, but by the Congress. You see, in 2006, a law passed was forcing the Postal Service to provide 75 years worth of pension funding within a 10-year window. Who the hell else has to do that?

Independent firms estimate that the United States Postal Service already overpaid the fund by 50 to 80 billion dollars. So even though the Post Office made 226 million dollars in the first quarter profits for this year, 2011, all of that money went to the Congressional mandated fund.

You know what they`re trying to do, folks? They are trying to shut down the United States Postal Service. They want to privatize this, as well. And I want to make it very clear tonight that not one tax dollar goes to running the United States Postal Service. It is all operated and funded through the stamps that you and I purchase.

Joining me tonight is Cliff Guffey. He is the president of the American Postal Workers Union. Mr. Guffey, great to have you with us tonight.

CLIFF GUFFEY, AMERICAN POSTAL WORKERS UNION: Good to be with you, Ed.

SCHULTZ: Did I say anything wrong? Or what I said, was that accurate? Can you add to it?

GUFFEY: That`s very accurate, Ed. The Postal Service has overpaid into their civil service retirement fund billions of dollars. You`ve got to remember, that`s money that`s withheld from the workers and was matched by postage revenue that we, through our productivity, have earned for the Postal Service.

And that was given to Congress to prepay our retirement funds. Well, these actuaries, these independent actuaries have actually said -- one said there is at least 50 billion overpaid in this one fund. And there`s 75 billion paid into it by the other actuary.

This is done by the Office of the Inspector General and by the Postal Regulatory Commission.

SCHULTZ: So what does -- what could they do to reverse this, to balance your books a heck of a lot better, because you are a profitable organization. The United States Postal Service has been profitable this year. What has to happen?

GUFFEY: Even with that money drained off into our retirement system, the Postal Service was required to prefund our health insurance into retirement by five point something billion dollars a year for the last five or six years. Without the 20 or 30 billion dollars going into that fund, the Post Office has been profitable.

Now what the Congress wants us to continue doing is continue to put money into these retirement funds and to keep prefunding. But if they would credit the Postal Service with that money, that`s actually the workers` money.

SCHULTZ: Sure.

GUFFEY: The Postal Service could pay off its debt. It could pay all the future deposits that are necessary and have some operating cash to get through this very trying time.

SCHULTZ: So, your mandate --

GUFFEY: -- this recession that`s been created by -- the Congress is trying to blame the workers. That`s what irritates me. They`re blaming the workers for the problems of the country, which is there`s not enough commerce in this country because they allow the system to set up to move all the work overseas.

SCHULTZ: Why is the Congress coming forward, saying they want to -- the Postal Service wants to cut the workforce 20 percent. And they`re talking about five-day delivery service. Why do they want to do that?

GUFFEY: Because they have no -- they`ve gone to the Congress and asked the Congress to release these funds. They say, oh no, we can`t release these funds, because if they release the funds back to the Postal Service, it would show how underfunded the rest of the government is. And it would be another deficit just to show how badly and poorly the rest of the government is run.

They put tax dollars into it. It`s run poorly. Where postage dollars have come in, it`s been run properly. They want to take my retirement funds, that I put in and the Postal Service put in, to pay the retirements for the other federal agencies that they haven`t funded.

SCHULTZ: Wow.

GUFFEY: That`s just totally improper.

SCHULTZ: It is improper. You guys don`t use any tax dollars. It`s all from stamps and all from services that you sell, correct?

GUFFEY: That`s correct. They`re taking our money and using it for other things in the federal government.

SCHULTZ: Do you think they want to privatize? Do you think there are some in Congress that want to get rid of the Postal Service and all go privatization?

GUFFEY: I believe there are some people. You got remember, the Postal Service still makes 70 billion dollars a year. Seventy billion dollars worth of business comes into the Postal Service.

And it supports a trillion-dollar industry out there, paper manufacturing, envelopes, cards, various companies that the Postal Service supports.

SCHULTZ: And reducing it to a five-day delivery service would hurt our certainly economy. There`s a lot of studies out there that show that.

GUFFEY: Medicines and what have you. We would find a way to get the medicines to the individuals. But we want to serve the American people. The Postal Service is respected by 80 percent of the public. Congress, 20 percent. I`ll be -- I hope the public stays on our side in this, to know that we want to provide a service and we want to be there to help the public.

SCHULTZ: I`m going to do more on this. I use your service every day. Cliff Guffey, thanks so much.

GUFFEY: Thank you.

SCHULTZ: President of the American Postal Workers Union.

Sean Hannity talks about President Obama`s black liberation theology. And it gets Hannity into the Zone. That`s next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCHULTZ: And in Psycho Talk tonight, Fox News host Sean Hannity. He asks a major presidential candidate if President Obama`s problem is his black liberation theology.

It came up in Hannity`s interview with the Mittster, Mitt Romney. Romney said something he often says, that President Obama is in way over his head. But Hannity wanted to pose another theory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Is it just that he`s in over his head? Or is it more complicated than that? In other words, is it that he holds to that rigid ideology, black liberation theology, which is -- which is rooted in social justice and entitlement society?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: First of all, why does Hannity treat social justice like it`s a dirty word, instead of something America should strive for and be proud of? Same thing goes for entitlements. The big three are the bedrock of America`s social safety net.

But Hannity ties that to what he calls President Obama`s, quote, "rigid ideology, black liberation theology."

President Bill Clinton was a pretty big defender of entitlements. He cared about social justice. Do you think Hannity would characterize his beliefs as black liberation theology?

No. But with the country`s first African-American president, Hannity is more than willing to go there. For playing the race card, Hannity has dipped once again into Psycho Talk.

Rick Perry is in. The Palin bus tour rolls on. And I`ll ask Lizz Winstead and Bill Press about those stories and a whole lot more fun coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RICK PERRY (R), TEXAS: I`m kind of getting to the all-in point and the idea that this is what I`m supposed to be doing. I mean, this is starting to get to that comfort level. I`ve got the calmness in my heart.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Well, I guess it`s official. Texas Governor Rick Perry is running for president. Perry will make his formal announcement on Saturday in South Carolina, the same day some of Perry`s Republican rivals will be competing in the famous Iowa Straw Poll.

Well, that`s got to tick off good old two percent Tim Pawlenty. Don`t you think? Pawlenty has invested heavily in the straw poll in that state. He needs the publicity. And it looks like Perry won`t be the only one trying to upstage Pawlenty and some of these other bottom of the barrel candidates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She says she`s not a candidate for the GOP presidential election yet. But Sarah Palin`s tour bus the heading for Iowa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHULTZ: Well, joining me now is comedian and co-creator of "the Daily Show," Lizz Winstead, and nationally syndicated radio talk show host Bill Press. He`s also the author of "Toxic Talk, How The Radical Right Has Poisoned America`s Air Waves."

Great to have both of you with us tonight. Lizz, tell us, what does the bus mean? Is the bus the signal from the heavens that here comes Sarah?

LIZZ WINSTEAD, COMEDIAN: You know, I`m surprised she`s not in London at the riots because there`s cameras. She`ll go anywhere. Like, you know, Casey Anthony trial. She just will go anywhere. She`s completely unavoidable for comment.

And it`s just again -- and Rick Perry apparently goes to the page book of stealing thunder, as well. So it should be a very interesting time in Iowa.

SCHULTZ: Bill Press, what about Palin? Does this mean she is getting in? Or she just happens to show up in Iowa because everybody else is there?

BILL PRESS, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: You know what? I think she`s just a big tease, Ed. She might, but you know, we`ve all dated girls like this. You know what I mean? In the past, I might have, Ed.

But look, remember, she just happened to be in New Hampshire when Mitt Romney announced, right? As Lizz said, she just happened to be at the Casey Anthony verdict and she just happens to be in Iowa this weekend.

But I think the Rick Perry thing is really interesting because if you watch that debate tonight, Ed, they are desperate for ABM, Anybody But Mitt. They`re so desperate that they would take another Texas governor. You know, all that Texas swagger all over again. I think Perry is like Bush without a brain.

WINSTEAD: He is. I call him the Dollar Store Bush.

PRESS: Right. I like that.

SCHULTZ: Lizz, Rick Perry says that he has got calmness in his heart about running. What does that mean?

WINSTEAD: Calmness in his heart? Did you watch him at all on the pulpit last weekend? He`s not a calm man. The way the GOP was talking about him, I thought maybe he was born in Bethlehem and we might have to look at his birth certificate, too.

PRESS: He did say, Lizz, if you remember, that he loves his country, but he loves the Baby Jesus even more. People don`t realize, Rick Perry, you talk about an extremist, right? This is the guy who wants to repeal the 16th Amendment, get rid of the income tax. He wants to get repeal the 17th Amendment, so that senators are no longer directly elected by the people. They`re elected by state legislatures.

This guy is pretty dangerous. He is way out there.

WINSTEAD: I really think that he is the perfect spokesperson to show that, you know, Texas is 49th in like SAT scores. He`s the perfect person to bring all that out.

SCHULTZ: Let`s look at it this way. Perry is going to get in this thing. Who is going to vote for him? Is the Republican base going to go his direction? Obviously, the hard Christian right would have to make a decision whether they`re going to go with him or Bachmann. Bill, where does it go?

PRESS: You know what I think, Ed? Look, there`s a Tea Party base I think that is going to dominate certainly the Iowa caucuses and may even determine the nomination. One person is going to get it, right? It is either going to be Michele Bachmann or Rick Perry or Sarah Palin.

I don`t think she gets in. And if it`s between Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, I think Rick Perry takes it away from her. And he`s the only one that`s got any shot of knocking Mitt Romney out of the nomination.

WINSTEAD: I think that`s right. I think that he`s been fooling people with his Texas record. And I think he`s really, really been courting the Tea Party and getting a lot of money from him behind the scenes, even longer than Bachmann has.

SCHULTZ: Lizz, what about our friend, two percent, Tim Pawlenty? Is this going to be the end of the road this weekend or what?

WINSTEAD: Here`s what I never understood. When looking at the landscape of people you`re going to vote for, when -- and we`re talking about the economy and how smart people are about the economy. When you`re pouring in millions of dollars and you`re at one percent, that`s a bad investment.

So Tim Pawlenty, by virtue of how much money he`s pouring into himself, versus how much he`s getting out of it, he has rendered himself a bad investment.

PRESS: I have to say tonight, I thought Tim Pawlenty handled himself pretty well. He went after Mitt Romney tonight. He went after Michele Bachmann. I just think it`s too little, too late.

I think people don`t believe the Minnesota story. And he has about as much charisma or excitement about -- Ron Paul has more.

WINSTEAD: -- food on a stick they`re serving at the state fair.

SCHULTZ: The best part about that tonight was that Bachmann put the hammer on Pawlenty. She did not back down. And I will say, as someone who pays taxes in Minnesota, and Liz, you know this, she was correct tonight. What she stated about Tim Pawlenty, about his record was factually correct. And he was reeling.

WINSTEAD: That`s right.

SCHULTZ: We`ll talk more about the big debate tonight with Lawrence here coming up in just a little bit. But the fact of the matter is I thought tonight that Newt Gingrich looked pretty strong. What do you think, Bill?

PRESS: I did, too. Let me tell you something. I found myself nodding in agreement. When Newt Gingrich said that this super committee is the dumbest idea that Congress ever came up with, man, that`s where --

WINSTEAD: Hear, hear.

PRESS: That`s where Newt is good. Newt is a lousy candidate. He`s a good idea man. He just has too many ideas. And maybe one-tenth of them makes sense.

SCHULTZ: Lizz Winstead, Bill Press, always a pleasure. Great to have you with us tonight.

Tonight in our survey, I asked you, what do Republicans care more about, the country or politics? Six percent of you say country; 94 percent of you say politics.

That`s THE ED SHOW. I`m Ed Schultz. You can listen to my radio show at Sirius XM Radio, channel 127, Monday through Friday, noon to 3:00 pm.

Follow me on Twitter @EdShow and @WeGotEd.

"THE LAST WORD" with Lawrence O`Donnell starts right now.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.END

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